Examining the Theoretical Consequences of a Post-Feminist Media Culture" (2014)

Marshall Digital Scholar Theses, Dissertations and Capstones 2014 Examining the Theoretical Consequences of a Post- feminist Media Culture Jedidiah N. Bailey [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://mds.marshall.edu/etd Part of the Journalism Studies Commons, Other Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons, and the Women's Studies Commons Recommended Citation Bailey, Jedidiah N., "Examining the Theoretical Consequences of a Post-feminist Media Culture" (2014). Theses, Dissertations and Capstones. Paper 879. This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by Marshall Digital Scholar. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses, Dissertations and Capstones by an authorized administrator of Marshall Digital Scholar. For more information, please contact [email protected]. CONSEQUENCES OF POST-FEMINISM Examining the Theoretical Consequences of a Post-feminist Media Culture A thesis submitted to the Graduate College of Marshall University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Journalism W. Page Pitt School of Journalism and Mass Communications By Jedidiah N. Bailey Approved by Dr. Christopher Swindell, Ph.D., Committee chair Janet Dooley, M.S., Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Media Dr. Robert Rabe, Ph.D. Marshall University August 2014 CONSEQUENCES OF POST-FEMINISM ii ©2014 Jedidiah N. Bailey ALL RIGHTS RESERVED CONSEQUENCES OF POST-FEMINISM iii Acknowledgments To begin, I would like to specially thank my thesis committee members, Dr. Christopher Swindell, Janet Dooley, and Dr. Robert Rabe, for offering their time and advice throughout my research project. Additionally, I owe much gratitude to Professor Ann Linden and the Women‟s Center at Shawnee State University for guidance in the development of my survey instrument. The support I received from the journalism faculty at Marshall and my colleagues in Shawnee State‟s English department enabled my research plans to become a reality. Furthermore, I want to recognize my friends and girlfriend, Jessica, for keeping me sane during this process. And most importantly, I want to thank my parents, Robert and Barbara Bailey, for providing endless support and encouragement for me to reach my dreams. CONSEQUENCES OF POST-FEMINISM iv Table of Contents Copyright page………………………………………………………………………… ii Acknowledgments…………………………………………………………………….. iii Abstract………………………………………………………………………………... v Chapter 1: Introduction…............................................................................................... 1 Chapter 2: Literature Review………………………………………………………….. 9 Chapter 3: Methodology………………………………………………………………. 33 Chapter 4: Findings……………………………………………………………………. 38 Chapter 5: Discussion………………………………………………………………….. 41 Chapter 6: Implications………………………………………………………………… 46 References……………………………………………………………………………… 50 Appendixes…………………………………………………………………………….. 53 Appendix A: Group Information……….……………………………………………… 53 Appendix B: Two-Part Survey for Research Project ………………………………….. 54 Appendix C: Data Results and Descriptive Statistics…………..……………………… 58 Appendix D: Percentages of Responses Toward Post-Feminism…………..…………... 59 Appendix E: IRB Approval Letter…………………………………………………….. 60 Appendix F: Curriculum Vitae………………………………………………………... 61 CONSEQUENCES OF POST-FEMINISM v Abstract Examining the Theoretical Consequences of a Post-Feminist Media Culture By Jedidiah N. Bailey Since the early 1990s, feminist scholars have declared that a post-feminist media culture has arisen throughout the Westernized world to attack the ideas and values promoted by feminists and the second-wave feminist movement that became established in the late 1960s and 70s. Consequently, this study is designed to gauge the influence that these media have in shaping the attitudes of young college women (in the 18-25 year old demographic) toward feminism and key women‟s rights issues. In order to better understand whether post-feminist media are able to detract support from the feminist movement, this study attempts to quantify the relationship between viewing post-feminist media and agreeing with assumptions made by post- feminism. The findings of this study suggest that the more frequently college-age women view post-feminist media, the more likely these women are to agree with post-feminist assumptions about women‟s rights issues. CONSEQUENCES OF POST-FEMINISM 1 Examining the Theoretical Consequences of a Post-feminist Media Culture Chapter 1: Introduction In a 2012 ABC Nightline interview, Republican South Carolina governor Nikki Haley attacked the notion that the conservative mainstream in America has been waging a war on women‟s rights (McFadden, 2012). She argued that women‟s rights activists are misguided in their beliefs that her party‟s stance on contraceptives is anti-women. In order to do this, Haley used anti-feminist rhetoric to defend her party‟s opposition to the government mandate that insurance companies should cover birth control costs. Many women‟s rights advocates had viewed the mandate as a further step in the effort for gender equality, but Haley repeatedly attacked the plan, declaring that “women don‟t care about contraception” (Wakeman, 2012, para. 1). Then she made a similar statement in an interview with Joy Behar on the popular talk show The View. Behar responded that women should care about contraception, arguing that when politicians such as former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum threaten to take away contraceptives, which help give women control over their reproductive rights, it represents an attack on the very concept of gender equality (Wakeman, 2012). Haley did not stop here, however, as she also stated in an ABC Nightline interview that feminists made it seem like women “only [cared] about contraception,” but that in reality women were “smarter and broader” than to let such women‟s rights issues “define [our] views” (McFadden, 2012, para. 14). Furthermore, when asked if she thought of herself as a feminist, Haley said that it was a “hard word” and that she did not like what it represented (McFadden, 2012, para. 15). The stance taken by Haley on the issue of contraception and women‟s reproductive rights exemplifies post-feminist rhetoric, which invokes a feminist issue only to reject it and presume it is outdated, too extreme, or no longer necessary. Furthermore, post-feminists presume that CONSEQUENCES OF POST-FEMINISM 2 because women have already been empowered, any further attempt to better the lives of women is extreme and an example of ruthless, man-hating women grasping at straws to quench their lusts for superiority. The rhetoric used by Haley to demonize women‟s rights activism incorporates each of the themes of post-feminism in its persuasive technique. For example, she posits herself as a liberated woman who is too concerned with “jobs and the economy” to care about trivial matters such as contraception, and uses her celebrity status to influence other liberated women to do the same (Wakeman, 2012, para. 4). This tactic implies that the need for any pro-female activism is in the past-tense, and it critiques feminists for being too extreme, while simultaneously guising its true intentions within a shield of convoluted rhetoric that makes post-feminist women seem independent and, therefore, pro-women. By making this ideology seem to be the norm for an independent proud female, post-feminism inherently ostracizes any female activism that falls outside of its constructed boundaries. For example, Haley invokes her position as an independent woman and role model only to state that powerful women like her are too smart to care about contraception. As a result, she demonizes any woman who recognizes that the availability of contraception plays an important role in establishing women‟s sexual equality to males by giving them control over their own bodies. Other popular celebrities, such as Lady Gaga, have used post-feminist rhetoric to portray women‟s rights issues and the feminist movement in a similar vein. As a singer whose lyrics seem to challenge the sexual double standard women face, Gaga seems progressive and is very influential, but her views on feminism are quite contrary to what one might expect. Gaga‟s statement that she is “not a feminist” because she “love[s] men” emphasizes the assumptions of post-feminism because it portrays the concerns of women‟s rights advocates as those of a straw man, weakened by a lack of substance (Keller, 2010, title). Because such a popular singer is able to influence young women with CONSEQUENCES OF POST-FEMINISM 3 music, lyrics, and themes that encourage women to be sexually engaging with men, yet discourage them from protecting their own rights in the process, Gaga‟s message makes women seem like they are independent, yet ultimately reduces women to men‟s playthings. The rhetoric used by Governor Haley and Lady Gaga personify a very influential post-feminist media culture, in which the media and celebrities spread their anti-feminist message through popular culture. Post-feminist media theory was an important development in the field of mass communications study that arose in the 1980s. The concept of post-feminism presumes that gender equality, women‟s rights, and female independence have been achieved, rendering the traditional feminist movement no longer necessary (McRobbie, 2004). This subject became more widespread throughout the 1990s, resulting in the development of post-feminist media studies (Tasker & Negra, 2005). Pioneer theorists, such as Susan Faludi

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